Winklevosses Drop Facebook Appeal

By MIGUEL HELFT

Published: June 23, 2011

If there is ever a sequel to the hit movie ''The Social Network,'' it is not likely to be set in the stately chambers of the United States Supreme Court.

Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss and their partner Divya Narendra on Wednesday dropped their efforts to undo their rich settlement with Facebook, a move that probably put an end to a legal feud that has lasted seven years.

The Winklevosses, identical twins and Olympic rowers who claimed they, and not Mark Zuckerberg, came up with the original idea for Facebook, settled their case against the company in 2008, in a deal valued at $65 million. Since then, they have been trying, unsuccessfully, to undo the settlement on the grounds that Facebook cheated them and that they should have received more. Meanwhile the settlement's value has soared to more than $200 million.

Courts rejected their pleas time and again. After their most recent setback, the twins vowed to appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

On Wednesday, they told the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco that they would not appeal that court's decision to the Supreme Court, said Jerome B. Falk Jr., partner at Howard Rice and a lawyer for the brothers. Mr. Falk said his clients had made the decision but declined to comment further.

In a statement, Facebook said: ''We've considered this case closed for a long time, and we're pleased to see the other party now agrees.''

This is a more complete version of the story than the one that appeared in print.